tanks and there smoke munitions

[Skyguns MKII]

we know many tanks in the game have smoke munitions. But did they have more than just white smoke? did they ever use different colors? Does anybody have evidence to support it?

[AWwrgwy]

White Phosphorus for the most part.

It's meant to screen you not say "look!! over here by the red cloud!!"

It also has the added bonus of burning what it touches.



wrongway

[gyrene81]

White Phosphorus for the most part.

It's meant to screen you not say "look!! over here by the red cloud!!"

It also has the added bonus of burning what it touches.



wrongway

uhhh...wp was used in anti armor and anti personnel munitions, not smoke signals.

i found an online reference for british munitions that shows what colors could be used in a smoke projectile.

BE smoke shells were activated by a time fuze to burst them in the air about 2° 30' above the angle of sight from guns to the target area (roughly 950 feet at 7000 yards).  The ejected canisters followed the shell's trajectory to fall over about 20 - 30 yards along the line of fire, although they could bounce a greater distance if the angle of descent was too flat.  The fuze action ignited the bursting charge (gunpowder), which caused three things to happen: the baseplate was blown out, the flash down the central core ignited a priming compound in the smoke containers and the pressure on the baffle plate ejected the smoke containers.  Canisters burnt for 75 - 90 seconds.  Figure 9 shows a 25-pdr Mk 1D shell with 3 smoke containers, but the initial 25-pdr smoke shell the Mk 1A, was not streamlined and carried 4 containers while Mk 2D still carried 3 containers but was 2 inches shorter.  The standard screening smoke was white but red, blue, green and yellow smokes were introduced for target indicating in 1943.  Coloured smoke comprised a fuel (such as lactose), an oxidiser and the appropriate coloured dye so unlike HCE it actually burnt.  The Fire Planning page explains the use of BE smoke in smoke screens.

http://nigelef.tripod.com/ammo.htm

still looking for references to what tanks used but, white seems to have been the standard for various sizes/types of smoke grenades.

[ap1102]

uhhh

White phosphorus is a material made from a common allotrope of the chemical element phosphorus that is used in smoke, tracer, illumination and incendiary munitions.[1] Other common names include WP, and the slang term "Willie Pete," which is dated from its use in Vietnam, and is still sometimes used in military jargon.[2] As an incendiary weapon, white phosphorus burns fiercely and can set cloth, fuel, ammunition and other combustibles on fire, and cause serious burns or death.
 
In addition to its offensive capabilities, white phosphorus is also a highly efficient smoke-producing agent, burning quickly and causing an instant bank of smoke. As a result, smoke-producing white phosphorus munitions are very common, particularly as smoke grenades for infantry, loaded in grenade launchers on tanks and other armored vehicles, or as part of the ammunition allotment for artillery or mortars. These create smoke screens to mask movement, position or the origin of fire from the enemy. White phosphorus is used in bombs, artillery, mortars, and short-range missiles which burst into burning flakes of phosphorus upon impact.

[gyrene81]

uhhh

<copy and paste from wikipedia>

you will find that as you get further away from wikipedia and closer to military and historical resources, you get better information.

[morfiend]

you will find that as you get further away from wikipedia and closer to military and historical resources, you get better information.

 gyrene,

  In the writeup you supplied it states an oxidiser is used. What would that be??  likely WP, although it could be many other things.

  As a young lad I would make smoke bombs using sugar instead of charcoal in a gunpowder recipe,a little magnesium pamagnate would make great purple smoke!



   

[gyrene81]

gyrene,

  In the writeup you supplied it states an oxidiser is used. What would that be??  likely WP, although it could be many other things.

i stand corrected morfiend...eh sorry wrongway. that reference shows lactose being one form of fuel used, which i found a bit odd. i've found a couple of other references for munitions that stated that among the fuel types, wp and another form of phosphorus were used depending on the purpose of the ammunition.

looks like the japanese used wp in their smoke hand grenades, at least the 50mm type anyway...
http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/jp-smoke-grenade/index.html

evidently the german "tater mashers" used hexaclorethane...
http://www.inert-ord.net/ger03a/gerhgr/stck/index.html

another interesting tidbit...should partially answer skysguns question regarding colors.
http://inertord.com/riflegrensmoke.html

the u.s. smoke grenades refer to a "starter charge" which i suppose we should assume is a small amount of wp due to the amount of time they discharged smoke, ~1 minute.

[morfiend]

  No probs gyrene,believe it or not sugar burns quite well,infact sugar processing plants must monitor levels in the air much like flour as it can combust from a simple static discharge.

  Like I said you can make a nice smoke bomb but substituting sugar for charcoal,add in copper sulfate and you get green smoke and I already told you how to make purple!


  I think NaCl is an oxidiser but various types of aluminum oxide could also be used and it wouldnt surprise me to find it in some of the smoke munitions. Although in 1940's they may have not know about it!



   

[AHTbolt]

The smoke grenades we used on our tanks had small flakes of rubber mixed in it that burned and stayed suspended with the smoke so that thermal sights couldn't see through the smoke.

[morfiend]

 I made a mistake too,it's  potasium chloride not sodium chloride....






   

[Skyguns MKII]

Is this a chemistry test? I HATE chemistry 

[Shuffler]

  No probs gyrene,believe it or not sugar burns quite well,infact sugar processing plants must monitor levels in the air much like flour as it can combust from a simple static discharge.

  Like I said you can make a nice smoke bomb but substituting sugar for charcoal,add in copper sulfate and you get green smoke and I already told you how to make purple!


  I think NaCl is an oxidiser but various types of aluminum oxide could also be used and it wouldnt surprise me to find it in some of the smoke munitions. Although in 1940's they may have not know about it!



   

Anything made fine enough is compbustable. Our Laser has a large vacuum system to pull metal dust out of the unit. The dust is captured in a large shaker filter setup. It then drops into a stainless barrel that has to be changed often.

[Zoney]

It should be "Tanks and their smoke munitions".

FYI, not trying to be a spelling/grammer nazi, but maybe you did not know.

There: "Go over there"

They're: "They're coming to dinner" (They are)

Their: "Tanks and their smoke munitions"

Thank you

[Shuffler]

also the air      The air over there is atrocious. 

[gyrene81]

maybe it is a little bit of "squirrel!!!" syndrome...

looking at tanks and; there, smoke munitions!!!